NRM News Archive
Issue 23, June 21, 2000
Cyanide Fishers in Bunaken National Park go to Jail
NRM Headline News is typically full of news briefs on NGO activities,
community projects, and policy initiatives relating to natural resources
management in Indonesia. However, one important but often avoided aspect of
NRM in Indonesia has not received much attention in these pages: enforcement
activities. Despite our best efforts in awareness raising, capacity
building, institutional strengthening and other impressive-sounding
endeavors, the fact remains that there will always be environmental "bad
guys" who require a "stick" rather than a "carrot" approach. Two recent
developments in the Bunaken National Park (one facilitated by NRM/EPIQ, the
other decidedly not!) provide interesting material for discussion in this
regard.
In response to increasing pressures on the reefs from illegal fishing
activities within the Bunaken National Park, the North Sulawesi Waterspouts
(sic)Association (NSWA; a group of 12 environmentally concerned marine
tourism operators in North Sulawesi) instituted a night patrol system using
members' dive boats and boat crew to attempt to deter illegal fishers (many
of which are operating at night). These patrols often were accompanied by park
rangers, but eventually the NSWA members felt the need to more formally
involve both the water police force and the park rangers in this patrol
system. With the facilitation of the NRM/EPIQ Sulawesi Utara office, an
innovative memorandum of understanding was signed between these three
parties in order to set up a joint patrol system funded in large part by dive operator's (and
their guests') donations. The NRM/EPIQ Secretariat in Jakarta has provided a 60 million
rupiah matching grant in order to help implement this patrol system.
Donations are pouring into this enforcement fund, and the patrol system
appears set to usher in a new era in Bunaken National Park management.
The second enforcement initiative by the NSWA is one that was decidedly not
facilitated or in any way supported by the NRM program, but is one that is
perhaps worthy of serious contemplation. Many NRM Headline News readers are
now aware of the cyanide fishing problem that is facing Bunaken National
Park, and in particular may recall the incident of seven cyanide fishers
"caught in the act" at 2am on 5 April 2000 by the author. What happened to
those fishers, one may be tempted to ask. "Easy," says the average
Indonesian national or long-time expatriate. "Nothing."
Wrong. Those seven men went to jail. How? Through a controversial tactic
that Indonesian environmental NGO's may very well wish to consider. The NSWA
hired a lawyer, who pressured the police in Manado until they took testimony
from witnesses, tracked the criminals down on a small island over an hour
from Manado (using a donated dive operator's boat), recorded their
confessions and put the seven men behind bars. They remained in a jail cell
for a week, and are now required to report to the police every week for the
next 6 months and may serve "environmental community service" within the
park.
This was achieved for Rp 4 million, considered by the NSWA to be a
worthwhile investment in protection of the park's reef resources. And it has
made quite a stir within the fishing villages in the park - primarily a GOOD
one. Some villagers from Bunaken island ("honest" tuna pole fishers and
traditional hand liners) were positively ecstatic to hear of the arrests,
and even villagers from the criminals' home island of Nain have expressed
their support of the arrests. Anti-destructive fishing rhetoric has been
quite commonly overheard on the islands over the last few weeks. Most
importantly, all those asked strongly believed that the seven arrested
fishermen won't be cyanide fishing on Bunaken's reefs again. It seems the
Manado Utara Police jail cell is no Four Seasons....
Mark Erdmann
Marine Protected Areas Advisor
NRM Program
flotsam@manado.wasantara.net.id
Issue 23, June 21, 2000
SOLICITATION: NSWA Scholarship Fund
Throughout North Sulawesi, and even in a national park like Bunaken, the
coral reefs are fighting a constant battle against damage from illegal
anchoring, destructive fishing practices, coral mining, and poor land use
practices that result in erosion and ocean disposal of trash.
The North Sulawesi Watersports Association (NSWA) is taking an active role
in protecting North Sulawesi's rich but threatened reef resources through
both enforcement and education efforts. Since early '99, donations from the
Association have enabled rangers and police to significantly increase their
patrol time around the North Sulawesi peninsula.
The NSWA is now proud to announce a scholarship program designed to provide
young adults from villages within Bunaken National Park and the Lembeh
Strait with educational opportunities that we believe will positively effect
North Sulawesi's reefs. By November 2000, we aim to raise enough funds (Rp
40,000,000) to finance five tourism vocational school scholarships (3 years
each) and one University scholarship (5 years) in marine sciences. By
providing villagers who use the area's reef resources with a vested interest
in protecting them, we hope to guarantee sustainability of the reefs.
Your donation will be used directly to support our scholarship program.
Donations can be made at any of the NSWA members' establishments (Blue
Banter Marina, Bunaken Divers, Celebes Divers, ChaCha Dive Resort, Froggies
Divers, Kungkungan Bay Resort, Minahasa Prima Resort, Murex Dive Resort, Tasik Ria Diving Centre, or 5* Dive Center
Thalassa), or directly by bank transfer:
Bank DUTA,
Jalan Toar 17,
Manado, Sulawesi Indonesia
Account Name: Juud Dikkers (NSWA Scholarship)
Account Number: 610.6107004444
If we all give back a little to our coral reefs they will reward us with
lasting beauty for generations to come!
The North Sulawesi Watersports Association (NSWA)
NSWA - PO Box 1117
95011 Manado
Email:
nswa@bunaken.info
Issue 21, June 07, 2000
North Sulawesi Vice Governor Calls Urgent Meeting on Bunaken National Park 22 May 2000
On 22 May 2000, a high level, urgent meeting of PEMDA officials was called
by the vice governor of North Sulawesi to discuss the considerable
management problems now facing Bunaken National Park. This meeting appears
to have been prompted by two recent memorandums to the governor's office: 1)
a report by the North Sulawesi Watersports Association (NSWA) of major
enforcement problems in the park with respect to cyanide fishing operations;
and 2) a policy brief submitted by NRM/EPIQ (Pak Idham's work) regarding the
need for and logistics of an entrance fee system for tourists to Bunaken
National Park. The meeting was well-attended by high ranking officials from
a number of agencies, including Balai Taman Nasional Bunaken, BAPPEDA
Tingkat I, BAPPEDALDA, Walikotamadya Manado, Kabupaten Minahasa, Dinas
Kehutanan, KANWIL Kehutanan, Dinas Pariwisata, Biro Hukum, BPN, POLDA, and
Dinas Kesehatan (among others).
To open the meeting, the vice governor summarized a number of current
threats facing Bunaken National Park (including the cyanide fishing problem,
plastic trash from Manado impinging on the park, mercury effluent from
illegal mining, and sedimentation from the ill-conceived Manado beach
reclamation project), mentioned the issue of conflicting and overlapping
authorities of various government agencies (both central and local), and
proposed the concept of enacting a PERDA to form a coordinating committee of
all of the agencies with possible authority over the national park and/or
threats to the park. This committee would be in charge of coordinating the
activities of the various agencies and of setting up and managing an
entrance fee system as proposed in the NRM/EPIQ policy brief (including
managing the considerable funds that would be generated from this entrance
fee system). The vice governor then opened up the floor to comments from the
various attendees.
The comments that ensued were, for the most part, extremely supportive of
the concept of a coordinating body, and suggested that the participants all
agreed with the one-time, "pin" entrance fee system proposed in the NRM/EPIQ
brief. Moreover, there were a number of very insightful comments from the
attendees, indicating that many are indeed aware of the value of Bunaken
National Park to North Sulawesi and are concerned that the current
management situation is inadequate.
There were several comments from attendees that were indicative of the
battle for authority over the park between local and central government.
This included a suggestion from Pariwisata that Balai Taman Nasional Bunaken
maintain authority over the core zones in the park only, while surrendering
authority over the limited use zones to Pariwisata. Pak Dominggus from BTNB
was understandably concerned over these suggestions, as he envisions that
his superiors at PKA will be upset with him for relinquishing power over the
park. This concern was perhaps heightened when the vice governor suggested
that the coordinating committee be named the "Badan Otorita" a name that
we will endeavor to have "softened". We attempted to convince Pak Dominggus
that this was in no way ceding power of BTNB, but simply creating a formal
organization through which the activities of the various government agencies
could be coordinated. These agencies are already making decisions over
aspects of management, exploitation and development of the park's
resources but are doing it in a relatively uncoordinated manner. He
appeared to accept this logic, though we feel it is imperative that NRM/EPIQ
Jakarta supports Pak Dominggus' actions to his superiors at PKA.
In the end, all present agreed to the concept of a coordinating committee
and an entrance fee system as proposed in the NRM/EPIQ policy brief. They
accepted without revision the list of suggested agencies to be included in
this committee, including (importantly), NSWA, NRM, and Kelola. All agreed
that this should be formalized in a PERDA Tingkat I (provincial-level local
government regulation). The vice governor appointed a working group to
formulate this PERDA, and asked that this working group have their
recommendations finished in one month (in order to present to the DPRD in
July). Members of the working group include: Assisten II Tingkat I
(Koordinator), Kotamadya Manado, Kabupaten Minahasa, Dinas Pariwisata, NRM,
NSWA, Kanwil Kehutanan, BTNB, BAPPEDALDA, BAPPEDA, Biro Organisasi, Biro
Hukum, BPN, and SATPOLAIR/Angkatan Laut. These are simply the members of
the working group to put together the PERDA. The members of the eventual
coordinating committee will be more widely representative, including
(minimally) the addition of Kelola, Dinas Perikanan, Dinas Kesehatan, and
others.
This meeting exemplified the progress and the apparent understanding of
those present for the need for a multi-agency coordinating body to oversee
broad regional policy and management of Bunaken National Park. Regarding the
use of funds collected from this entrance fee system, the vice governor
specifically mentioned proper uses of the funding as including "pengelolaan,
pengamanan, and pembersihan Taman Nasional Bunaken". All indications from
both tourists and villagers in the park suggest that the money collected
from an entrance fee system must go towards tangible programs to improve
conditions in the park, both for the reefs, the villagers, and the tourists.
Overall, this meeting seems to signal the beginning of a truly
comprehensive, participatory (and decentralized) management of Bunaken
National Park. A golden opportunity has been presented.
Mark Erdmann
Marine Protected Areas Advisor
NRM Program
flotsam@manado.wasantara.net.id
